Category Archive

Sack-Back Windsor Armchair This style of Windsor chair was probably initially developed in Philadelphia during the second half of the 18th century but its popularity soon spread to the other British colonies in North America. Our example is a relatively simplified version but contains all the essential elements of this chair type. It has a characteristic shaped pine saddle seat …

Baking in a Brick Oven A previous article discussed the placement of the oven in Colonial fireplaces. Among a cook’s skills was knowing how to judge the temperature of the oven and to use it to best advantage.  To heat up a brick oven, a fire is built inside it.  On the floor of the oven small kindling was arranged and …

The Brick Oven If one thing is clear about life for women in rural America during the years leading up to the Industrial Revolution, it is that they were required to have management skills and no where were those skills more important than in the economy of food preservation and preparation. Their use of the brick oven, built into the …

Warm Drinks During the colder months—or even during the warmer months on a cool morning or chilly evening—a warming drink, made in a nice bright tin utensil, rather than the usual black cast iron, was a fine thing! Until after the American Revolution it was illegal to have a rolling mill to produce the tin sheets needed to produce utensils, …

Peas, Honey, Knife There is an old nursery rhyme that includes: “I eat my peas with honey, I’ve done it all my life, it may sound kind of funny, but it keeps them on my knife.”  To the present day, that may seem a bit odd, but it wasn’t during the Colonial era, and right into the 19th Century in …

Mother Nature at Work The statement: “Nature abhors a vacuum” was clearly in evidence in the woodlands at the Pownalborough Court House. Trees, either sickly or dead are under attack by natural processes. Some, like gale force or hurricane winds can result in massive damage from fallen trees but other less violent means are also operative. On Wednesday, the last …

Breaking Out of the Old Lincoln County Jail The grim granite structure with its brick Jailer’s House that still stands on Federal Street in Wiscasset was commissioned to be built in 1804 when it appeared that larger numbers of prisoners were escaping from the older wooden jail, built in 1795. There had been five escapees in one prison break alone …

Rev. Jacob Bailey comments on Maple Sugaring in Pownalborough The early settlers observed the Native Americans collecting the sap of maple trees in the late winter and early spring.  The sap was boiled down into a delicious sweetener; the settlers quickly learned the method.  Reverend Jacob Bailey, was a prominent gentleman in the Pownalborough area and spent some time living …

The Josephus The Josephus was built by Ebenezer Haggett of Newcastle in 1876.  It was a Down Easter type of vessel and was rated at 1570 tonnage.  The photo shown above shows Captain Joseph Henry Park and his two daughters enjoying some quiet time in the family’s cabin.  To note are the  wooden carved cornices that were used to accented …